Pictures?

I have been attempting to post some pictures, but although the message says they are uploaded, i DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY GO, BUT THEY ARE NOT ON MY BLOG! tOMORROW IS vALENTINE'S dAY, i ANd I will be visiting a Zulu Village outside of Durban. ONCE MORE, i will try to upload some pictures!

Our Dining Partners

We also have an Ambassador Host at our table, but he wasn't with us for the Sushi Party. Pictured here are Ruth, Marlyse, Jane and Dick. We really enjoy being together each evening!

Marlyse and Victor, her paddle tennis teacher. Both Victor and Barb, her bridge teacher have spoken to me about how talented she is! This is the third year I have taken the World Cruise, but Marlyse already knows many more people on board than I do.

Sushi Party

Blog Jan. 19th

It’s more and more difficult to know what day of the week it is! And sadly, there is only a week left for Marlyse to be with me. It has been a fantastic time for her, and as she said to me, she has been having her cake, and eating it, too!

I have been trying to get 15 minutes of sunshine every day, which I never managed to do last year. My usual schedule on sea days is Yoga at 08:00, sometimes free at 09:00 (otherwise Rap with the Rabbi); intermediate bridge lessons at 10, and advanced at 11. Then, R&R up at the pool, before meeting Marlyse for lunch, and my next class is Spanish at 15:00. Today, I sat out on our balcony, until Marlyse returned from her date from Paddle Tennis, followed by her art class, and then we both went up to the pool, where she swam laps and I went into the Jacusi. When we returned to the room there was a platter of crudities with a cream dip awaiting us, and now she is reading on her bed, and I am seated here at the computer.

Tonight, after dinner we promised to go to the piano recital at 10:30 given by a young man that had dinner with us last night, and then treated us to a private concert in one of the lounges, on stage, behind the curtain. It was very special. In fact, the whole evening, yesterday was quite special: all the people from our dining table had decided to go to The Silk Road, a Nobu Japanese restaurant, here on the Serenity, and so I had suggested that everyone come here beforehand for some champagne and hors-d’oeuvres, which proved to be quite agreeable. Then, the pianist, having been invited by our male dinner companion, joined our table, and we had an absolute banquet of Japanese specialties for the six of us.

On entering the restaurant, the officer in charge of Food and Beverages, who had previously noticed Marlyse, invited her for a game of paddle tennis, for this afternoon.

Now, it’s time to dress for dinner, so I will attempt to upload some of the pictures from our party, yesterday, and sign off for another day.

From Yokohama to Petropavlovsk

so I will close for now.
I am totally frustrated! After writing for 1 1/2 hours, and uploading 9 picutures, the whole blog disappeared except for the one line above! I'm sorry, but i HAVE NO MORE PATIENCE TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN.
aT THIS POINT, ALL i CAN DO IS IDENTIFY THE PICTURES from Petropavlovsk: a statue of Lenin said to be the largest in Russia, entertainers at a hotel luncheon, and various scenes of the remaining snow along the road, all covered in black (the color of the sand around here, mostly on account of the many volcanoes), etc. The entertainmnetn was a disappointment to me, since they were more like Eskimo dancers, than Russian, and the "music" was also very strange. What was really sweet, though, was the number of young children in the troupe.
The pictures at the top were taken in Yokohama; the flowers were a gift from the Crystal Society, and unfortunately, I copied the same picture twice of the new walkway built at the dock. When the whole thing is visible, it is in the shape of a ship, and quite popular with the locals, especially during lunch hour, with benches, etc.